This invention relates to biochemistry and environmental protection. This invention is the result of a contract with the Department of Energy (Contract No. W-7405-ENG-36).
Waste streams containing heavy metals, such as cadmium and copper, are generated in many industrial operations. The metals are toxic to animal and plant life and must be removed before the waste streams are discharged into the environment. Also, there are many sites where water containing heavy toxic metals has been dumped; these sites must be cleaned up or, at minimum, the sites must be stabilized to prevent the waste from migrating to contaminate more of the environment.
Cadmium is an example of a toxic metal which must be excluded from the environment, it accumulates readily in living systems and, in humans, has been implicated as the cause of renal disturbances, lung insufficiency, bone lesions, hypertension, and cancer. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency limits the amount of cadmium which may be present in drinking water to 10 parts per billion. Cadmium containing waste streams are generated in such industrial operations as zinc refining, battery manufacturing, electroplating, and pigment manufacturing.